Pit Stop Reporter

Zora Čápová / Czech Republic / 2024 / World Premiere / 54 min.

synopsis

Ivana Svobodová, a journalist for the weekly Respekt magazine specializing in the Czech disinformation scene, does not create her reports from her desk, but in the field. She engages in clashes of opinion with people who believe in the positions propagated by bloggers like Vidlák. The plurality of opinion has been transformed by their influence into a battlefield divided into good and bad media. This confrontational portrait of the role of a liberal periodical in the era of rampant social media conspiracies with a sociological overlay discusses the impossibility of dialogue. It asks questions about the difference between opinion and fact, as well as what authority is respected by those who oppose authority and who is the watchdog of democracy.

“I don't know what kind of world this is; I don't mean that politically, I mean it humanly. How often does a person get so angry that they want to insult a stranger?”

biography

Zora Čápová (1993) studied sociology and social policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University and graduated from the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU. Her works include Good Hunting! (IDFF Ji.hlava 2016), My Voina (IDFF Ji.hlava 2017) and Fluid Life (IDFF Ji.hlava 2020). Pit Stop Reporter is her feature debut.